Businessman Pleads Guilty In Mail Fraud

April 09, 1986|By Maurice Possley.

The owner of a now-bankrupt northwest suburban firm that sold printing presses pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges Tuesday that were similar to those that put the company`s vice president, the late Richard Flynn, in a Mexican prison for three years.

Robert A. Schwermer, owner of Bob Schwermer & Associates, Inc., Arlington Heights, admitted that he defrauded the Westinghouse Credit Corp. and violated a federal court order by selling a printing press for $64,500 and keeping the money.

Schwermer, 53, of 309 Elmwood Ct., Palatine, was indicted Jan. 30 on 11 counts of fraud and contempt as a result of an investigation by FBI agent James Reilly and Assistant U.S. Atty. Suzanne Conlon.

The indictment alleged that Schwermer sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of fraudulently obtained printing equipment to out-of-state and foreign businesses. He also was accused of ordering an employee to forge signatures on promissory notes totalling $434,000.

Flynn, who died last December, was a vice president and financial consultant for Schwermer in the early 1980s. He was convicted of fraud while representing the firm in Mexico City and was jailed for three years. Flynn maintained his innocence and was released after his conviction was overturned in 1985 by the Mexican Supreme Court.

Schwermer pleaded guilty to charges relating to a printing press he had purchased with money borrowed from Westinghouse. When he did not pay back the loan on that and other machines, Westinghouse filed a civil lawsuit and obtained a court order barring him from transferring or selling any of the equipment, Conlon said.

However, Schwermer sold the printing press to a Florida firm for $64,500 and pocketed the money, she said. He replaced the machine in the inventory with a fire-damaged printing press that was virtually worthless, Conlon said. U.S. District Judge Charles P. Kocoras set sentencing for May 29 when Schwermer, the former owner of the now defunct Chicago Horizons soccer team, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $2,000 fine.